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ABC Analysis – a useful collusion breaking feedback tool

It is best done in a group, but can also be done in pairs. Each person in the group offers feedback about each other member of the group.

Each group member completes the following statement, with real examples and stories, concerning another member of the group.

“When you are being an asshole, I experience you as…”

In this activity, asshole is largely a self-defined term. It is whatever it means to the person offering the feedback.

Defining AB (Asshole Behaviour)

An asshole can mean..
– an emotional game player
– a manipulator
– a bully or an irritating teaser
– a liar or exaggerator
– a bringer-downer, spoiler, or sulker
– a deliberate obfuscator
– a shit stirrer

So, go around the group. Offer each participant a turn. Ideally send feedback in all directions, so the feedback is 360 degree.

Outcome of the ABC

Asshole is a great and provocative term that acts as a useful catch all for dysfunctional behaviour. It cuts to the core of a feedback process.

We get some real issues out into the open. It’s a kind of collective releasing of trapped air.

We can also hear how our own AB impacts on other people. We can then reduce our AB and replace it with something less stinky.